Calling All Eczema Parents!
Eczema Mommas, ever gotten a sheet of hope handed to ya like this? How about you allergy Papas - grabbed that Benadryl from the grocery time and time again because “your kid might outgrow it, but this is probably just life”? Finally, my asthma friends - let’s hear it for the ones out there tying a nebulize a tired 3-year-old who wiggles and won’t comply with looking like Darth Vader each night in exchange for a sorta peaceful night of sleep? It all sucks. But also? This is hope! (for healing, duh)
Asthma, allergies and eczema are some of the biggest health struggles facing our American kiddos. Did you know that 1 in 2 American children have a chronic health condition? Do I think it’s because there aren’t options? Nah. It’s because there’s a standard of care and that's what most doctors rely on and are limited by - and that’s what this Eczema handout is - the standard approach to Eczema. At a traditional dermatologist, which…I'll say it like this - is the most standard (untrue) of all.
Why?
Well, research for one, has to be reviewed, re-reviewed, duplicate many times in studies before the medical establishment - but really their BFF (your insurance company) - is interested in a healing process' validity. Until those the medical system and your insurance agrees, whichever effective solution isn’t something they’ll entertain, leaving your provider with nothing “coverable” to suggest to you.
Interested parties.
You’ve heard it before - but it’s true. And I’m the last to buy into general statements like “boys make more than girls” and “the government did this or that.” But, listen - I know what steroid creams cost and what they create. (Dependence). And it’s not a solution: it’s not a healed customer. Therefor, continuing clients to buy creams on and on and on….
Look.
I’m not mad at the system or the parties or the Pharma. Whatever to that mess. I am mad that 1 in 2 of my son’s classmates struggle with a chronic health condition AND I watch 8-10 kids leave our care each month, symptom free, less than 10% needing to return to care. And of these who do return, all face more complex diagnosis alongside chronic issues. (It wasn't just the eczema.) So how do we do it?
We ask why.
If you read no further, know that asking and digging for the “why” root is why we have such success. Allergies/eczema/asthma have in common an over-sensitivity to our environment - that we live in and/or how we interact with (ex. Foods we eat, cats we sit next to or laying in grass after a rainy week) our environment.
What kind of reaction is this person having? Anaphylactic responses? Yes - then we know the immune system is very reactive and involving the IgE system.
Are reactions only at a particular exposure? Maybe the item causing it looks like something else the body deals with. (Ex. Tomatoes, potatoes, avocados are all high histamine foods that will bother a body that is consistently dealing with an allergen.)
If a body is extremely reactive to sugar and dairy, is there something in the environment like mold or fungus internally?
If the body is very reactive to most anything or reactions don’t follow much rhyme or reason, we dig into chronic infections like recurrent mono, strep, Lyme and confections or Herpes family viruses…
Tons of these questions until we can zero in on WHY the body is allergy/asthma/eczemaing….
If you’re a client, you know my list of “why’s” and “what else” that I wander you through is endless - and it’s purposeful. Our bodies speak to us in symptoms and bodies don’t make mistakes. Your practitioner’s job is to ask “why” and establish those patterns which point to the true root.
This is why practitioner work > buying a zillion creams and supplements aimlessly is the better approach. We are looking to reveal the root of the dysfunctional immune system, to address and reset immune dysfunction, to gain long-term resolution. Anything else we do supports the body to heal in the meantime.
Heal the gut. We know the gut’s at play. It may not be the main thing, but with 60-70% of your immunity present in the gut, and allergies/eczema/asthma all involve a responding immune system - we need to look at the good bacteria and bad, digestion's function. Then work to restore poor function and balance to the gut. This is a foundational piece to support the outcomes of our “Why” work.
Reduce inflammation. The core operator of allergies/eczema/asthma is inflammation causing some part of the body to respond opposite of normal. Skin enflames in eczema. Histamine floods, hives appear, airways restrict or bodies grow tired and weary from histamine floods - all allergy inflammation tricks. The bronchioles inflame in asthma and eventually constrict, limiting uptake of oxygen = asthma attack. A foundation to healing any of these conditions is to manage the overall inflammation load. We use tools like fatty acid balance, Omega-3 rich fish oils, heavy antioxidants to buffer the inflammation and *when needed*, we test and remove foods currently contributing to inflammation. Not to remove these foods forever - just to use them as a tool to manage inflammation while we heal!
Nutrient foundation support. An overactive immune system needs immune supportive nutrients like Vitamins D, C, sleep, clean air, water and more. A body stuck in chronic immune dysfunction has been using up nutrients at a faster rate than the body can obtain for retain them. For some a multivitamin bridges the gaps. For others, symptoms and testing reveal specific deficiencies of systems that need restorative support - through food and supplementation we restore - to have the fuel they need to regenerate and heal, bringing back health.
We support the stressors. Did you know that stressors encourage histamine production in the body? And histamine’s at the root of a lot of inflammation…and that’s the last thing we need. Supporting stressors includes adding in fun, increasing laughter and oxytocin release (hugs!), adding in colorful foods, time outside and restful activities. We’ll use creams, topicals and even steroids (yes, sometimes!) to allow for comfort while we heal. For asthma, did you know there are other therapies to nebulize instead of albuterol to support healing. We want the body comfy, cleaning up and moving more and more toward a state of rest and thus healing. Our approach includes loving the body well by increasing clean air quality, cleaning up drinking and bathing water, weeding chemicals out of personal care and life. But ya know what all the item detoxing in the world won’t resolve? The dysfunctional immune system.
Which points us back to “why”? Why is the particular body’s immune system dysfunctional and what steps will we follow to recalculate and resolve? Next note we’ll be chatting toxins, how to clean-up, where to clean up and why we clean up. Followed by the biggest clean up of all: why changing diet, cleaning up your life and taking 10127849 supplements isn’t the key to open the lock on long-term health and symptom resolution: your healthy immune system is.
